by Lola Glass
I stared at her, stunned into silence.
“He ordered us not to tell you any of that.” Jamie shot London an exasperated stare.
“But Arla is our Alpha first, and she thinks you deserve to know.” London challenged.
I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes.
My scent had never affected people like this before, at least not that I’d ever been told. Most packs were very small, with only a few unmated males at the most. Maybe that was why the impact of my scent seemed so much greater.
“I need some air.” I struggled with my wobbling legs, still in more pain than I’d like to admit. The girls helped me to my feet and I murmured my thanks.
“There’s a path out in the backyard. Everyone pretty much steers clear of it because they know it’s Roman’s.” Jamie was a lifesaver.
“Thanks. Both of you.” I shuffled out into the forest.
TEN
The icy air outside was refreshing against my clammy skin. Sunlight shone through the branches of trees overhead, warming the parts of my skin it touched. It was sometime in the early afternoon; I was too out of it to pay close attention.
Birds flew away as I passed their trees, sensing me as a predator and chirping warnings to their friends. I’d always envied the freedom of their wings. My paws felt like chains on occasion.
I only wandered the forest for a few minutes before my body ached too much. Sitting down on the trunk of a fallen tree, I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sky.
What was going on between Roman and me? Based on everything going on it didn’t seem like I could keep ignoring it.
In wolf form, we’d practically claimed each other. I’d fought for him and he’d fought for me. Plus, he was just as possessive and protective of me in human form.
Even if I was interested in Roman, I wasn’t ready for a relationship. I’d only been free from Ledger for what, eight months? The horrible memories from my time with the Colorado pack hadn’t gone anywhere, and I wasn’t sure they ever would.
Maybe when a year had gone by I’d feel differently.
But maybe not.
My nose twitched. A sharp smell hit me; that of a werewolf I didn’t know.
Roman’s pack stayed away from this path.
“Hello, Henley.” A large hand wrapped around my mouth, trapping my arms to my sides and yanking me backward. The backs of my calves scraped against the tree trunk as he ripped me over it so fast I saw stars yet again.
This was not my day.
I slammed my elbow into his gut and he released me long enough for me to let out an ear-piercing scream that would hopefully alert someone I was in danger. I’d take a horny unmated male over this asshole any day.
“Shut up.” He tossed me over his shoulder. The movement hurt so bad I legitimately blacked out for a few seconds. When I opened my eyes back up, he was running us through the forest. Blood slid like water up my neck and into my hair as I hung upside down. It dripped to the ground, leaving an unintentional scent trail that I prayed someone would catch.
A loud, angry howl echoed from the other side of the forest. I recognized the source and knew with certainty that he was coming for me. And that he’d kill anyone who tried to take me from him.
Chills shook me as blood seeped faster. The few stitches I’d had were definitely torn. My consciousness would follow quickly as the bouncing made my injuries worse and worse.
“My Alpha will kill you when he catches you. Leave me here and you might live.” My teeth chattered as I spoke.
The guy just laughed at me, an ugly sound from an ugly soul.
Another howl filled the air, this one much closer and much more furious. He’d caught the scent of my blood and realized it was getting stronger.
I lost consciousness again, this time for a few minutes. When I came to again, I was lying in a heap on the dirt while Roman and my abductor circled each other. Both were in human form, both bleeding in places and both radiating Alpha power. I’d seen my Alpha wrestle a wolf in human form, so my bets were on him.
“She belongs with my pack. The pack she came from.” The male I didn’t know snarled. My heart about stopped.
The pack I came from?
“She belongs with me.” Roman lunged for the man, Alpha power drenching the air thick enough to choke on it. Muscle met muscle as they collided.
They wrestled for a minute before Roman’s arm wrapped around the man’s throat. The man kicked, fought, and shifted, but Roman’s arm didn’t budge.
“Don’t kill him.” I called out, voice hoarse and shaky.
“He challenged me for you.” Roman snarled at me.
I met his furious gaze with my own fire and repeated,
“Don’t kill him.”
The man’s body went slack. Roman and I faced off, both glaring. Me on the ground, him in the position of complete and utter power.
He dropped the man and stalked toward me, shifting back into wolf form on his way.
I knew immediately what his intention was, and I’d felt violated every time I’d had my wounds healed that way before.
“Don’t.” I warned.
My big black wolf scowled at me. He lowered his head to my back and inhaled deeply, taking my scent into his lungs. His nose trailed up to my neck and his tongue stroked my cheek.
“No.” I knew what he was doing, trying to soften me up so I’d agree. I’d lost a lot of blood but the injuries would heal on their own eventually.
Wouldn’t they?
Roman whined and licked my face again. I opened my eyes and saw the emotion in my black wolf’s gaze.
He was scared for me.
That was new. I couldn’t remember anyone being scared for me before. Not since the night my mother hid me in a closet while our pack was slaughtered.
Past experience waged war with present pain and uncertainty.
The stitches had been a bust, so letting someone heal me was really my best bet at recovery. If I was letting someone’s tongue touch my skin, it needed to be someone I at least somewhat trusted. And ironically, the New York Alpha was the person I trusted most in the entire pack.
“Fine.”
His tongue met my skin. I’d expected it to hurt or at least sting with discomfort. What I hadn’t expected was the cooling, satin feel. Having my wounds licked by the New York Alpha was much different than when anyone else healed me.
A sigh of pleasure slipped through my lips as the pain lessened. Roman’s chest hummed with pride as he continued licking the wounds, soothing my pain far more effectively than the meds I’d taken earlier.
With the injuries vanishing, my body relaxed enough for exhaustion and blood loss to set in. My eyes shut, and I drifted off.
I woke up in bed with my black wolf. Roman was curled up beside me on a mattress that smelled of him. In my sleep, I’d burrowed into his furry side, his head resting against mine. His tongue licked up my spine in a slow, sensual pattern every few moments, turning my body to mush with every stroke.
Damn, I wanted him.
His tongue trailed up my skin again and I couldn’t help the moan that slipped from me.
“What are you doing to me?” I groaned.
He licked me again, torturously slow. I shoved at his big hairy face and he gave me a toothy grin.
“Shift back.” I ordered. Roman didn’t hesitate to do so, even going so far as to lick my back with his human tongue. I shrieked and pushed him away, and he burst out laughing.
I’d never seen him full-out laugh before, and the sound warmed me from within.
“I definitely didn’t agree to sleep in the same bed as you.” I scowled at him, trying to rebuild whatever was left of the wall I’d put between us before.
“I tried to leave. You started crying.”
Shit.
“I was in pain.” I protested. Even I knew it was a weak protest.
“It’s probably for the better. I would’ve killed the Alpha who tried to take you from me if I left, and you
want him alive for some reason.” Roman settled back into the pillow we’d been sharing. It smelled like both of us, and damn, our scents smelled heavenly together. “You’re cute when you’re asleep.”
Cute? I was never cute. Hot, sexy, ferocious, terrifying, sure. But cute? Hell no.
I grabbed the pillow we weren’t lying on and smacked him in the face with it, sliding out of bed. When I stood, my legs refused to hold me up. The floor flew at my face, and Roman barely managed to catch me around the waist before I ended up kissing the carpet.
“Easy, Hen. Your wounds have sealed but you lost a lot of blood.”
I cursed myself for liking the way he insisted on shortening my name.
“Don’t call me that. I haven’t agreed to anything,” I gestured between the two of us. “And I won’t with an Alpha. Alpha power corrupts people.”
“So run the pack with me. Keep me in check. If it goes to my head, knock me down a few levels.”
“Run the pack? Are you insane?” I stood again, grabbing the dresser off to the side to stay on my feet. “I won’t be an Alpha, Roman. I hate Alphas. They’re abusive and cruel and you can give up on chasing me right the hell now if you’re doing it with the assumption that I’m ever going to lead this pack with you.”
My braid swung over my shoulder and brushed against my back as I practically ran across the room. Roman beat me to the door, standing in the doorway like the six and a half foot wall of muscles he was.
“I’m not going to stop pursuing you. Whether you like it or not, you’re it for me.”
I put a hand on my hip.
“Whether I like it or not? How sweet.” The sarcasm was heavy in my voice.
“Didn’t mean it like that.”
“Careful, Romeo. Your Alpha is showing.” I gave his right shoulder a little push, and he let me move him out of my way so I could slip through the door. “Thanks for healing me, but I’m going to pass on mating.”
I crossed the hall to my room. Though I still had on my leggings from before the stitches and attack and everything, the towel that had covered me was gone and someone had dressed me in one of Roman’s t-shirts. The owner of it, if I had to guess.
After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I left again. Roman was waiting outside my door with a bag of takeout food.
“When did you have time to go pick that up?” I wondered, accepting the bag.
“Ordered it when you started waking up.” His shoulders lifted, and he walked with me down the stairs. “Where are we going?”
“You said you didn’t kill that other Alpha. Wherever he is.”
“No.” He shot it down immediately.
“I wasn’t asking permission.”
“I didn’t spare him so you could get friendly with him, Hen.”
“Sure you did. You just didn’t realize that was why I asked.” I shot him a devious smile.
“You didn’t ask, you ordered. Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to give an Alpha an order?” he opened the front door for me. I stepped outside, and he had no problem making up the ground I’d gained.
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you that Alphas don’t obey orders?”
“Touché.” Roman’s lips tilted upward.
“Alright, where is he?” I looked around the front yard. A few werewolves lingered outside their mansions, some kids running around up the street.
“I remember telling you I wasn’t taking you to him.” Roman said.
I scowled at him and shut my eyes, focusing on my nose. With a little effort, I managed to shift that piece of me on its own. Scents lit up like colors, and the other Alpha wasn’t difficult to find. I opened my eyes and followed it down the street, Roman staying at my side, swearing under his breath.
“I can’t even smell him from here. How can you?”
“Mad skills.” I flashed him a smirk.
Roman opened the door of the mansion his people were keeping the other Alpha in, and I stepped inside. Jamie stood in the kitchen in workout clothes, dumping protein powder into a blender. Her eyebrows lifted and she pulled a wireless headphone from her ear.
“I thought you weren’t letting her near him.” She spoke to Roman.
“I’m right here.” I gave Jamie a little wave. “And unless Roman drops an assload of Alpha power on me, I’m talking to that guy. So what’ll it be?” I looked up at Roman, daring him.
“We both know that would shatter the tentative trust you have in me.” He met my stare with one of his own.
Smart man.
“But if you’re going in, I’m going to be standing between you and him at all times.”
I folded my arms, narrowing my eyes and daring him to back down. He didn’t.
Ultimately he wasn’t really asking a lot. He was chasing me, so my protection would be one of his main priorities. I could appreciate that.
“Fine. That’s fair.” I nodded once.
“This way.” Roman led me into the large garage. The place was empty other than a man chained into a chair that looked like it had been drilled to the ground so it couldn’t move. He smelled of his own blood but didn’t look like he’d been tortured. After experiencing it, I’d never be able to stand by torture.
“Are you finally going to tell me why I’m here?” The man drawled.
Roman stepped between me and the other Alpha, and I took a couple steps of my own to the side so I could see him.
“What pack do you run?”
My stomach clenched with nerves.
I wanted to punch the man’s cocky smirk right off his face.
“So that’s why.”
“The New York Alpha spared you because I asked him to. I imagine he’d be happy to challenge you for your pack, and he already beat you once. So you can answer my question, or I can change my mind about wanting you alive.”
The man worked his jaw, face reddening.
“Is that a threat?”
“Not at all.” I gave him a cold smile. “It’s a fact.”
He decided he was willing to answer my questions.
“Georgia.”
I swallowed hard, and said,
“That pack was wiped out thirteen years ago. How did you know that’s where I grew up?”
“How easy do you think it is to kill every single member of a pack, Henley Renee Clark?” His smirk was back, as if his earlier outburst hadn’t happened at all. Panic rose within me.
“Who survived?”
Please let it be my grandparents.
I’d seen my mother die, I’d watched the life leave her, but my grandparents hadn’t been there. If they had lived…
“Unchain me and I’ll be happy to tell you.”
Roman looked at me, a warning in his eyes. Understanding the need not to question my Alpha in front of this man, I tilted my head to the door. Roman led me out into the rest of the house with a hand on my lower back and his body close behind mine, protecting me. He waited until the door was shut and we were on the other side of the living room, where the Alpha shouldn’t be able to hear us.
“No.”
“You don’t get it.” My fists clenched.
“So explain it to me.”
“I don’t just give people pieces of my past, Roman. It hurts too much.”
“I understand.” His eyes softened. “But I’m telling you as an Alpha who cares about his pack and has to think about the way other leaders perceive me that I can’t release him without a damn good reason.”
“I know.” I turned to the wall behind me, eyes closing. He was right; letting this Alpha go would look insanely bad. Any other pack rulers who heard about it would think he was weak, and I’d seen the shit that followed a weak Alpha. It was never good.
But I had to know.
“He’s probably lying. The Georgia pack has a reputation, and it’s not a good one.”
“I know.”
Could I do it? Let Roman in?
If I had to do let someone in, it may as well be him. He hadn’t betrayed me yet.
>
I turned back around and met his eyes.
Why did he have to look so damn understanding?
“I grew up in Georgia. The pack kept my secret quiet and close. They didn’t let any outsiders in, and no one left. A few weeks after my eighth birthday, the South Carolina Alpha lost his mate. He was friends with my Alpha at the time, so he came to visit to get away from his house for a few days.
“He was drunk off his ass when the shifting time came around. He shifted, and we didn’t. He challenged his friend the next morning, killed him, and massacred the rest of the pack. Someone told him I was the reason for the pack’s immunity to shifting, so he took me into his pack and dragged me back to South Carolina. I saw a lot of bodies but not all of them, and I was only eight. What if my grandparents survived? Or my aunt and uncle? Or a cousin?”
My fingers were tangled in Roman’s t-shirt, but I didn’t remember grabbing him. When had that happened?
His arms wrapped around my back, and he pulled me closer.
“Don’t hug me.” I smacked him on the arm. “Let him go. I have to know.”
I could see the war in his eyes, and I could tell the moment he made up his mind. He was chasing me, which meant his beasty side was pressing him to do whatever it took to convince me to mate with him. But he was still an Alpha.
“I’m sorry, Hen. Letting him go would endanger the pack, and I can’t risk that.”
I stepped back and Roman released his hold on me.
His reasoning was logical, but it still freaking hurt.
“Fine. Kill him. But stay the hell away from me. I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
I spun on my heels and stalked out of the house. I wouldn’t cry, but I would figure out a way to get to Georgia. I’d find out about my family if it killed me. Until then, I just had to sit back while the New York Pack’s money piled up in my account.
ELEVEN
“Look, Henley, I have to agree with my brother on this one.” Arla lifted her hands in surrender. “If you’re leaving, three enforcers are going with you. You’ve been attacked way too many times since you’ve been here.”
“You think I’ve already forgotten?” I leaned over her desk. “I’m not saying I don’t want the protection. I’m saying at least one of the enforcers needs to be a girl. I like your enforcers, but the ones Roman is sending are bumps on a log. They’re seriously messing with my tips, the way they sit at the bar and glare at every dude who wants a drink.”